Schein's Organizational Culture & Leadership

Schein's Organizational Culture & Leadership 3/25/09 6:57 AM
Organizational Culture & Leadership

by
Edgar H Schein
"Some are born great,
some achieve greatness,
and some have greatness thrust upon 'em"
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
notes compiled by Ted Nellen
Oct 1997
Culture a phenomenon that surrounds us all.

Culture helps us understand how it is created, embedded, developed,
manipulated, managed, and changed.
Culture defines leadership.
Understand the culture to understand the organization.
Defining Organizational Culture

culture is customs and rights.
good managers must work from a more anthropological model.
Each org has its own way and an outsider brings his/her baggage as observer.
Understand new environment and culture before change or observation can be
made.
1.Observe behavior: language, customs, traditions

2.Groups norms: standards and values
3.Espoused values: published, publicly announced values.
4.Formal Philosophy: mission
5.Rules of the Game: rules to all in org
6.Climate: climate of group in interaction
7.Embedded skills:
8.Habits of thinking, acting, paradigms: Shared knowledge for
socialization.
9. Shared meanings of the group
10. Metaphors or symbols:
Culture: norms, values, behavior patterns, rituals, traditions.

Culture implies structural stability and Patterning and integration.
Culture is the accumulated shared learning from shared history.
2 problems all groups must deal with:
1. survival, growth, and adaptation in environment
http://www.tnellen.com/ted/tc/schein.html Page 1 of 17
2. internal integration that permits functioning and adapting.
Culture Formally Defined

A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its
problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked
well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new
members as the correct way you perceive, think, and feel in relation to those
problems.
The problem of socialization: teaching newcomers

The problem of behavior:
Can a large org have one culture? subcultures.
Summary
culture explains incomprehensible, irrational
org with history has culture.
Not every group develops a culture.
Once culture exists it determines criteria of leadership.
Leaders should be conscious of culture otherwise it will manage them.
Levels of Culture
Artifacts
on surface
sees
hears
feels
visible products
Language
technology
products
creations
style: clothing, manners of address, myths, stories
easy to observe
difficult to decipher
symbols are ambiguous
Problems in classification
Espoused Values
all group learning reflects original values
those who prevail influence group: the leaders
first begins as shared value then becomes shared assumption
social validation happens with shared learning.
initially started by founder, leader and then assimilated.
Basic Assumptions
evolve as solution to problem is repeated over and over again.

hypothesis becomes reality
to learn something new requires resurrection, reexamination, frame breaking
Culture defines us:
what we pay attention to
what things mean
react emotionally
what actions to take when
humans need cognitive stability
defense mechanisms
McGregor: if people are treated consistently in terms of certain basic
assumptions, they come eventually to behave according to those assumptions in
order to make their world stable and predictable.
different cultures make different assumptions about others based on own values
etc: see them with our eyes not theirs.
third party may help solve differences between 2 cultures
each new member comes with own assumptions.
Culture of 2 orgs
Case study of 2 distinct companies illustrating multilevel analysis of culture.
One can best understand a system best by trying to change it.
Key is he looked at these two with his eyes, his culture, not theirs.
Lurk for awhile to understand culture.
Dimensions of Culture
External Environments
develop a model of how assumptions arise and persist
identify issues groups faced from origin of group, if possible.
group growth and culture formation are intertwined.
essential elements:
mission and strategy
goals
Means of developing consensus, reaching goals
measurement
correction
Mission and strategy
each new groups must develop shared concept to survive.
what is the function. Can be multifunctional.
if in debate mission is reached then culture has developed.
culture exists when members share identity and mission.
Goals
to achieve consensus on goals group needs shared language and shared
assumptions.
mission can be timeless, but goals must have end point
do not confuse assumptions of goals with assumptions of mission.
Means to Achieve Goals

need clear consensus on means to achieve goals.
goals can be ambiguous, but not how to achieve them.
Means:
design of tasks
division of labor
org structure
reward and incentive system
control system
info systems
skills, technology, and knowledge acquired to cope become part of culture of
org
lack of consensus on who owns can cause difficulty
be aware of feelings about territory, property, turf
crowding is a problem
Changing is difficult because of internal "property."
Consensus on means creates behavioral regularities
Once regularities in place, stability and patterns are in place.
Measuring results
need consensus on how to evaluate self
from top
trust self
use outsider
trust hard data
Correction, Repair
consensus needed on how to affect change
change may be for growth not just to solve a problem
correctiveness can have great effect on culture, because it may question culture:
mission.
Summary
Culture is multidimensional, multifaceted.
Culture reflects group's efforts to cope and learn.
Managing Internal Integration

External is important but so is internal relationships.
Major Internal Issues:
1. Common Language
2. Group boundaries for inclusion or exclusion
3. Distributing power and status
4. Developing norms of intimacy, friendship, and love
5. rewards and punishments
6. explaining the unexplainable: idealogy and religion
Common Language
to function as group must have common language
conflict arises when two parties assume about the other without communicating.
often creators create common language
common understanding begins with categories of action, gesture, and speech.
Groups Boundaries
consensus of who is in and who is out.
leader usually sets this, but group tests it.
Orgs can have three dimensions:
lateral movement: from one task to the next
vertical movement: from one rank to the next
inclusionary: from outsider to insider
as org ages becomes more complex:
indiv may belong to many levels, depts, ...
Distribution of Power and Status
How will influence, power, and authority be allocated?
all need to have some power or know limits
who will grant power
power can be earned
or assigned
Developing Rules
how to deal with authority and with peer
we use family model in new situations
Allocating Reward and Punishment
must have system of sanctions for obeying and disobeying rules.
Explaining the Unexplainable
facing issues not under control: weather, natural disaster
Religion can provide this
ideology too
myths, stories, legends help
Summary
Every group must learn to be a group.
groups must reach consensus
Reality, Truth, Time, Space, Human Nature,

Activity, Relationships
develop shared assumptions about more abstract, general, deeper issues.
The deeper issues:
nature of reality and truth
nature of time
nature of space
nature of human nature
nature of human activity
nature of human relationships
nature of reality and truth
what is real and how to determine reality
Levels of Reality
external reality refers to that which is determined empirically, by objective
tests, Western tradition. ie SAT
social reality when groups reaches consensus on things.
individual reality is self learned knowledge, experience, but this truth may
not be shared by others.
High Context/Low Context

low = unidirectional culture, events have clear universal meanings
high = mutual casualty culture, events understood only in context, meanings
can vary, categories can change
Moralism-Pragmatism
pragmatist seeks validation in self
moralist seeks validation in a general philosophy, moral system, or tradition.
*Different bases for what is true:p 102
1. Pure dogma: based on tradition, it has always been this way.
2. Revealed dogma: wisdom based on trust in the authority of wise
men, formal leaders, prophets, or kings.
3. Truth derived by a "rational-legal" process
4. Truth as that which survives conflict and debate
5. Truth as that which works: let's try it and test it
6. Truth as established by scientific method, borders on pure
dogma
What is Information?
*to test for reality a group must determine what is information.
*Information or data
nature of time
*Time is a fundamental symbolic category that we use for talking about the
orderliness of social life.
*Time: not enough, late, on-, too much at one, lost time never found again.
Basic Time Orientation

*past, present, future Gettysburg Address
**Only present counts for immediacy
**Past exists to show past glories, successes
**Future always with vision, ideas
Monochronic and Polychronic Time
*monochronic one thing at a time
*polychronic several things done simultaneously. Kill two birds with one
stone.
Planning Time and development Time
*planning time is linear, fixed, monochronic, closure.
*developmental time is limitless, as long as needed. process world, open
ended.
Discretionary Time Horizons
*deals with size and units, classes=44 minutes, 34 large
*annually, quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly...
*length of time depended on work to be done. ie research people would not
get closure.
*differ by function and occupation and by rank.
Temporal Symmetry and Pacing
*subtle how activities are paced
Time imposes social order

pacing, rhythms of life, sequence, duration, symbolic
Time is critical because it is so invisible, taken for granted.
nature of space
comes to have symbolic meanings
Distance and Relative Placement

*has both physical and social meaning
**intimacy distance touching; 6"-18" too far
**personal distance 18"-30" near; 2'-4' too far. soft voice
**social distance 4'-7' near; 7'-12' too far.
**public distance 12'-25' near; >25' too far.
*feelings about distance have biological roots.
*we use partitions, walls, sound barriers, etc
*intrusion distance
Symbols of Space
*who has what and how much
*size may determine rank.
*decorating one's office
*design of space reflects much
Body Language
*use of gestures, body position
*who do you sit next to, avoid, touch, bow to
*deferring reinforces hierarchical relationship
nature of human nature

what are our basic instincts
what is inhuman behavior
good or bad intrinsic or learned?
self is compartmentalized: work, family, leisure
Maslow's basic needs
human nature is complex and malleable
changes in life cycle as humans mature
humans can learn new things.
nature of human activity
how humans act in relation to their environment
The Doing Orientation

*controlled by manipulation
*pragmatic orientation toward the nature of reality
*belief in human perfectibility
**getting things done, let's do something; *focus' on task, on efficiency, on
discovery
*id with Prometheus
*id with Athena = task
*id with Zeus = building useful political relationships
The Being Orientation
*nature is powerful
*humanity is subservient
*kind of fatalism
cannot influence nature
become accepting and enjoy what one has
*think in terms of adapting
Being-in-Becoming Orientation
*harmony with nature
*develop own capacity to achieve perfect union with the environment

*focus on what person is rather than what can be accomplished.
*id with Apollo which emphasizes hierarchy, rules, clear roles
Activity Orientation and Role Definition
*nature of work and the relationships between work, family, and personal
concepts
*in one work is primary
*in another family is primary
*in another self-interest is primary
*in another integrated life-style is possible
Organization/Environment Relations
*can nature be subjugated
*nature harmonized with
*does group view itself capable of dominating nature
*or coexisting with nature
nature of human relationships

make group safe, comfortable, and productive
must solve problems of power, influence, hierarchy
and intimacy, love, peer relationship
Individual and Groupism
*individual competitive
*cooperative: group more important than indiv
*hierarchy and tradition
Participation and Involvement
Etzioni's theories:
1. coercive systems
members are alienated
exit if can
peer relationship develops as defense v authority
unions develop
2. utilitarian systems
will participate
evolve work groups
incentive system
3. systems based on goal consensus between leaders and followers
morally involved
identify with org
evolve around tasks in support of org
At a more specific level

autocratic
paternalistic
consultative/democratic
participative and power sharing
delegative
abdicative
Characteristics of Role Relationships
Parson's:
1. Emotionally charged or emotionally neutral

2. Diffuse or specific: like family or salesperson
3. Universalistic or particularistic: broad or specific criteria
4. Ascription or achievement oriented: family connections or accomplishments
5. self or collectively oriented
Culture is not only deep it is wide and complex.

Culture comes to cover all aspects of life.
How Leaders Create Org Cultures

mysterious: how does it happen?
Culture Beginnings and the Impact of Founders as Leaders
spring from three sources:
1. beliefs, values, and assumptions of founders

2. learning experiences of group members
3. new beliefs, values, and assumptions brought by new members
Impact of founder most important.

Orgs do not form spontaneously or accidently.
The process of culture formation is the process of creating a small group:
1. single person (founder) has idea.

2. founder brings in one or more people and creates core group. They share
vision and believe in the risk.
3. founding group acts in concert, raises money, work space...
4. Others are brought in and a history is begun.
Jones an example of "visible management"

Culture does not survive if the main culture carriers depart and if bulk of
members leave.
Smithfield started things and then left them to the members.
Murphy of Action: Total consensus had to be met. Open office landscape.
How Founders/Leaders Embed and Transmit

Culture
Leader assumptions are "taught" to the group.
Things tried out are leader imposed teaching.
how do leaders get their ideas implemented?
socialization
charisma
acting, by doing, exuding confidence
Culture-Embedding Mechanisms
Secondary Articulation and

Primary Embedding Mechanisms
Reinforcement Mechanisms
What leaders pay attention to, measure, and Organization design and
control on a regular basis. structure
How leaders react to critical incidents and Organizational systems and
organizational crises. procedures
Observed criteria by which leaders allocate Organizational rites and
scarce resources. rituals
Deliberate role modeling, teaching, and Design of physical space,
coaching facades, and buildings
Observed criteria by which leaders allocate Stories, legends, and myths
rewards and status. about people and events.
Observed criteria by which leaders recruit, Formal statements of
select, promote, retire, and excommunicate organizational philosophy,
organizational members. values, and creed.
Primary Embedding Mechanisms

called "climate" of the organization
"Climate" precedes existence of a group culture.
Return to Culture-Embedding Mechanisms Table
What Leaders Pay Attention to, Measure, and Control
what leader systematically pays attention to communicates major beliefs.

what is noticed
comments made
casual questions and remarks
becomes powerful if leader sees it and is consistent
If leader is unaware and inconsistent then confusion can ensue.
consistency more important than intensity of attention.
attention is focused in part by the kinds of questions that leaders ask and how
they set the agendas for meetings
emotional reactions.
important what they do not react to.
Leader Reactions to Critical Incidents and Organizational Crises
in crisis: how do they deal with it?

creates new norms, values, working procedures, reveals important
underlying assumptions.
Crises are especially important in culture creation.
Crisis heighten anxiety, which motivates new learning.
A crisis is what is perceived to be a crisis, and what is defined by leader
crisis about leader, insubordination, tests leader.
Observed Criteria for Resource Allocation
how budgets are created reveals leader assumption.

what is acceptable financial risk?
how much of what is decided is all inclusive? bottom up? top down?
Deliberate Role Modeling, Teaching, and Coaching
own visible behavior has great value for communicating assumptions and values
to others.
video tape is good
informal messages are very powerful.
Observed Criteria for Allocation of Rewards and Status
Members learn from their own experience with promotions, performance

appraisals, and discussions with the boss.
what is rewarded or punished is a message.
actual practice, what happens as opposed to what is written or said.
if something is to be learned their must be a reward system setup to insure it.
Observed Criteria for Recruitment, Selection, Promotion, Retirement, and

Excommunication
adding new members is very telling because it is unconsciously done.

also who doesn't get promoted says something.
Secondary Articulation and Reinforcement Mechanisms

In young org design, structure, architecture, rituals, stories, and formal
statements are cultural reinforcers, not culture creators.
once an org stabilizes these become primary and constrain future leaders.
These are cultural artifacts that are highly visible but hard to interpret.
When org is in developmental stage, the leader is driving force. After a while
these will become the driving forces for next generation.
These secondary mechanisms will become primary in Midlife or mature orgs.
Organization Design and Structure
Organizing org has more passion than logic.

Founders have strong ideas about how to organize
build a tight hierarchy that is highly centralized.
strength in people so decentralized
negotiated solutions (Murphy)
How stable structure should be is variable.
some stick to original setup
some constantly rework
Design
some articulate why this way
some not aware of why this way
structure and design can be used to reinforce leaders assumptions.
Organizational Systems and Procedures
Routines most visible parts of life in org: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly,
annually.
Groups members seek this kind of order
they formalize the process of "paying attention."
systems and procedures give consistency
inconsistency allows for subcultures.
Rites and Rituals of the Organization
rites and rituals may be central in deciphering as well as communicating the

cultural assumptions.
they can be powerful reinforcers too.
they are only views of a limited portion of org so be careful.
Design of Physical Space, Facades, and Buildings
visible features
symbolic purposes
may convey philosophy
open office means openness
Stories About Important Events and People
As history develops, stories evolve.

stories reinforce assumptions.
Leaders can't control stories about themselves.
Using stories to decipher org has its problems: Validity.
Formal Statements of Organizational Philosophy, Creeds, and Charters
formal statements only highlight a small portion of the assumptions.

Only reflect what is available for public consumption.
Cannot be viewed as definitions of the org.
Summary and Conclusion
How leaders embed the assumptions into and create culture

How they get others to share assumptions.
Primary mechanisms used to embed in ongoing manner.
Secondary more subtle, more ambiguous, more difficult to control, yet can be
powerful reinforcements of primary
Mechanisms convey culture content to newcomers.
secondary become primary in time.
new leaders becoming cultural change agents as org matures declines.
Organizational Midlife
culture growth and change
Cultural dynamics are ultimately a reflection of group dynamics
as groups mature they develop subgroups
leadership and cultural dynamics
1. founding and development stage

founder ownership
nothing to with age or size
can be old but in developmental stage
2. organizational midlife
shift in ownership
at least two generations of leaders
nothing to do with age or size
3. organizational maturity and decline
all taken for granted
if environment shifts and can't adapt: dead
Must consider degree of relativity. To society everything is a subgroup. In a

company it is the macrocosm and all else under is microcosm. It is who considers
self macrocosm.
Major Bases of Differentiation Creation of subcultures
1. Functional/occupational differentiation
2. Geographical decentralization
3. Differentiation by product, market, or technology

4. "Divisionization"
5. Differentiation by hierarchical level
6. Mergers and acquisitions
7. Joint ventures, strategic alliances, multiorganizational units
8. Structural opposition groups
Functional Differentiation
subcultures are a product of culture of the function

production hires people in manufacturing
finance hires accountants
like minded stay with like minded
Each function is a blend of founder and occupational function
"thought words" (Douglas) functions have own nomenclature which makes
interaction tough sometimes
with org growth subcultures become stable and well articulated
Rotating a young manager through all dept is a training for top position.
sometimes huge gulfs between two functional subcultures based on
communications gaps.
brings diversity which is needed based on functions
creates problems
teaching culture to new members becomes harder.
Return to Major Bases of Differentiation
Geographical Differentiation
creation of subcultures to break into several geographical units

Logic:
need to get near customers and needs are different
take advantage of local labor costs
cost savings on being near raw material
use of local market
geographic subcultures adopt local culture
who runs geo subculture: local or home?
as orgs mature geo units may take over functions
communications may break down between host and unit
Differentiation by Product, Market, or Technology
technologies change as org matures

product changes
customers change
Divisionization
decentralization
divisional subculture
Differentiation by Hierarchical Level
hard to coordinate large numbers of people

solution is to create more layers in bureaucracy
isolated teams have own subculture
complex mental equations to make decisions.
competence of org
financial risk
degree to financial self-sufficiency
Top-management cultures = similar in structure
will be defined by the tasks to be done.
Mergers and Acquisitions
culture and subculture crucial

mergers is a blending
acquisition: smaller becomes subculture
problem in both: no shared history
one will feel inferior, threatened, angry, defensive
rarely checked: philosophy, origins, = cultural mismatch
understand cultural risks
clash of assumptions = disaster
Why?
not aware of own culture
not aware of other culture
do not history
Joint Ventures, Strategic Alliances,and Other Multiorganizational

Enterprises
Culture issues can cause failure

know other culture
each party may feel inappropriate to bring their feelings out in the open.
ignorance of another culture results in crisis
Structural Opposition Groups
subgroups develop as opposing other groups
some groups are deliberately countercultural: unions

racial, gender, etc groups form subcultures
Summary and Conclusions
Remember to integrate subcultures

be sensitive to subcultures
Building an effective org is a matter of meshing by encouraging evolution of
common goals, common language, common procedures to solve common
problems.
Evolution of Culture and Leadership

Culture Change
how culture evolves in organizations
problem of culture change in declining orgs
culture change in midlife and mature orgs
when approaching evolution change depends on where one stands.
Dynamics of Culture Change and Leadership in Young

Organizations
In a mature org harder to change things. Old dogs new tricks...
Dynamics of Change
all systems attempt to maintain equilibrium and maximize autonomy.
Coping, growth, and survival all involve maintaining the integrity of the
system
evolution of culture is a way a group preserves its integrity and autonomy,
differentiates itself from environment, and provides itself with identity.
Unfreezing
motivation to change
3 processes must be present to generate motivation:
enough disconfirming data to cause serious discomfort and disequilibrium
connection of disconfirming data to important goals and ideals causing
anxiety and/or guilt
enough psychological safety: having enough sense of identity and integrity
to go ahead with change.
Disconfirming data shows that goals aren't being met or some of processes aren't
being met.
Sales are off
complaints are up
high turnover of employees
If change threatens my whole self, I will deny the need for change. Velcro
theory here.
most will ignore disconfirming data or ratioanilze it away.
called strategiec myopia: when strategies that do not fit leaders prefixed ideas
are ignored. hearing something and denying it,
If can't figure out what to do, ignore it.
once group is in pain they will listen to disconfirming info.
Cognitive Restructuring
Once unfrozen many different paths can be followed.
trial and error
imitation of role models
This will provide new learning to core assumptions. retooling
Most change processes emphasize need for behavior change.
can be coerced but will not last once pressure is off. USSR
Refreezing
Once new behavior and core is fixed.
Will stay like this until disconfirmation starts it again.

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Schein's Organizational Culture & Leadership 3/25/09 6:57 AM

Organizational Culture & Leadership

notes compiled by Ted Nellen

Culture a phenomenon that surrounds us all.

Defining Organizational Culture

1.Observe behavior: language, customs, traditions

Culture: norms, values, behavior patterns, rituals, traditions.

2. internal integration that permits functioning and adapting.

Culture Formally Defined

The problem of socialization: teaching newcomers

evolve as solution to problem is repeated over and over again.

Means to Achieve Goals

Managing Internal Integration

Reality, Truth, Time, Space, Human Nature,

High Context/Low Context

Basic Time Orientation

Time imposes social order

comes to have symbolic meanings

Distance and Relative Placement

nature of human nature

The Doing Orientation

*develop own capacity to achieve perfect union with the environment

nature of human relationships

At a more specific level

1. Emotionally charged or emotionally neutral

Culture is not only deep it is wide and complex.

How Leaders Create Org Cultures

1. beliefs, values, and assumptions of founders

Impact of founder most important.

1. single person (founder) has idea.

Jones an example of "visible management"

How Founders/Leaders Embed and Transmit

Secondary Articulation and

Primary Embedding Mechanisms

Return to Culture-Embedding Mechanisms Table

What Leaders Pay Attention to, Measure, and Control

what leader systematically pays attention to communicates major beliefs.

Return to Culture-Embedding Mechanisms Table

Leader Reactions to Critical Incidents and Organizational Crises

in crisis: how do they deal with it?

Return to Culture-Embedding Mechanisms Table

Observed Criteria for Resource Allocation

how budgets are created reveals leader assumption.

Return to Culture-Embedding Mechanisms Table

Deliberate Role Modeling, Teaching, and Coaching

Return to Culture-Embedding Mechanisms Table

Observed Criteria for Allocation of Rewards and Status

Members learn from their own experience with promotions, performance

Return to Culture-Embedding Mechanisms Table

Observed Criteria for Recruitment, Selection, Promotion, Retirement, and

adding new members is very telling because it is unconsciously done.

Return to Culture-Embedding Mechanisms Table

Secondary Articulation and Reinforcement Mechanisms

Return to Culture-Embedding Mechanisms Table

Organization Design and Structure

Organizing org has more passion than logic.

Return to Culture-Embedding Mechanisms Table

Organizational Systems and Procedures

Return to Culture-Embedding Mechanisms Table

Rites and Rituals of the Organization

rites and rituals may be central in deciphering as well as communicating the

Return to Culture-Embedding Mechanisms Table

Design of Physical Space, Facades, and Buildings

Schein's Organizational Culture & Leadership

Schein's Organizational Culture & Leadership